Caroline Wozniacki versus Karolina Pliskova: Was quite an entertaining match which lived up to its billing. The contrasting styles of Caroline Wozniacki’s grinding defense against Karolina Pliskova’s all out aggression was played out in favor of the grinder this time.
Caroline's defense and grind versus Karolina's attack and aggression
Pliskova played a more patient game of tennis than she is accustomed to playing, and tried dominating with her power in the rallies. However, Caroline employed her feet to the extra work of reaching every ball that was humanly possible to reach and slowly, but ever so steadily, wore Pliskova down.
The first set witnessed a spectacular change in fortune when Caroline Wozniacki, down 1-5, won six games in a row to win 7-5. Pliskova somehow managed to overcome that demoralizing loss in the first set, and regrouped to play some good tennis, and won 7-6 (3) in the second. However, Caroline then fought her way from 2-4 down in the third to win 6-4.
What stood out even more in this 2 hours and 56 minutes long roller coaster of a match was Wozniacki's aggression in between her usual defensive and grinding play. She even served eight aces to Pliskova’s five, and out-aced the Ace machine of the WTA!
Wozniacki outplayed Pliskova in all aspects of the game
What stood out even more in this 2 hours and 56 minutes long roller coaster of a match was Wozniacki's aggression in between her usual defensive and grinding play.
She even served eight aces to Pliskova’s five, and out-aced the Ace machine of the WTA!
Caroline's first serve percentage was 64% to Karolina’s 56%, and she won 73% of those service points as compared to only 68% won by Pliskova. Wozniacki outdid Pliskova in not only the service department but also in every other area of the game by winning 48% of her second serve points as compared to 45% won by Pliskova and was ahead even on the first serve return points won by 32% to 27% by Pliskova.
Caroline also won 42% of the break point chances that she created as compared to 30% such opportunities won by Pliskova. Caroline won 53%, and Karolina 47%, of the 221 total points played between them and also kept her unforced errors count to only fifteen errors for the entire match. Pliskova was beaten quite comprehensively in all departments of the game, and the match revealed a few gaping holes in Pliskova's defenses and mentality.
Is Wozniacki as much a contender as Pliskova for the US Open title
While Wozniacki fought till the very end, Karolina Pliskova gave up before the last ball of the match was played and lost the match while serving at 4-5 in the third set. Pliskova made three unforced errors in the last game to gift the match to her opponent, whereas, Wozniacki tried to track down as many balls as she could and made sure that Karolina never had it easy on the court.
It was a high-quality tennis match in which Wozniacki established that she is also in the running for the US Open title which she has missed twice by losing in the finals to Kim Clijsters in 2009 and Serena Williams in 2014.
